August 2015

October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween, WCS readers! I hope y'all have some fun plans for today. I will be heading out with my sweetest little one to collect candy this evening, but wanted to share some home decor products to get your home into a Halloween mood.

I don't go all out with the decorations, but do like to put a few things out. Here is my front table.

I created the black frame with the stars this year, and it's featured today at the Fancy Pants blog so head on over if you want to check it out.

How cute is this tin that Laura made? You could use it as a gift or display it with your Halloween decor.

October 29, 2013

I am thrilled to share a giveaway with the WCS readers today. It's from my favorite company, Chic Tags. They just released some new products, which you can see in their shop here. In addition to the new products, they are also doing monthly kits with exclusive tags, stamps, and flair. Here is the October kit.

Isn't it awesome? You could win your very own October kit! Here is a layout I made with the kit, some paper from the Happy Place collection, and some Halloween pics from last year.

It's such a great kit. Just leave a comment here and you'll be eligible to win. The giveaway will go through Wednesday, and I will post the winner on Thursday, October 31.

Thanks for visiting the blog, stop by tomorrow for more Halloween inspiration!!

October 28, 2013

and this week we will be talking about Halloween crafts here on the WCS blog. Thanks so much for joining us! Fall is my favorite season, so Halloween is naturally one of my favorite holidays. Any excuse to dress up and eat candy just makes me HAPPY, and also makes for some great pictures. Today I wanted to share with you some inspiration to create your own Halloween layouts.

First up, I have one of my Halloween layouts. Notice I didn't use traditional Halloween colors.

I have this gorgeous layout to show from Wai Sam, of her sweet, sweet baby!

October 27, 2013

October 26, 2013

It's such a busy time with Halloween right around the corner. Are you nearly ready? costumes? decorations? candy? Before we get lost in the sugar high, let's take a look back at our gallery this month.

This month our theme was A Day in the Life. From layouts encapsulating one day into one page, to layouts that celebrate those things we do each day, we hope that you found some inspiration in what we created. Let's look through the gallery for ideas for capturing the details of the mundane but beloved.

October 25, 2013

Happy Friday and welcome to the final day of VELLUM week! What a fun week. I've really enjoyed sharing my projects, as well as the other fun projects from the write.click.scrapbook team this week. Thank you so much for stopping by each day!! I've enjoyed your comments so much!!

We're finishing up this week with Project Life. If you've been here all week, it's probably no big surprise that I like adding vellum to my Project Life album. I always have my big pack of vellum handy when I'm putting my weeks together!!

Nothing too earth shattering today as most of these ideas have already been mentioned with layouts, cards and mini albums, but I hope you will find some fun ways to incorporate vellum into your Project Life spreads.

TYPING TEXT ONTO VELLUM AND ADDING TO FRAME

First up is my favorite. Finding new and interesting ways to add journaling to my Project Life album is always on the top of my mind. I like to change things up and try new ideas and this is a fun one to me. It's super simple, but is definitely striking when flipping through an album.

Here is an image of the front and the back of a Project Life insert. I typed my journaling onto vellum and then stitched it onto the wood veneer frame.

TYPING TEXT ONTO VELLUM AND ADDING AS AN OVERLAY

My favorite thing about using vellum in my Project Life album is it's translucent quality. I love being able to see through a patterned paper, photo or even to the next page in my album. For my pocket above, I typed my journaling onto vellum and then stapled it into place along side my photo.

Here, I typed my journaling onto vellum and then stitched it onto one of my favorite patterened papers. You can also see where I created a vellum pocket to include some text messages to the right of my typed journaling. See....I do use vellum everywhere! :)

USING VELLUM FOR HIDDEN JOURNALING

I typed some of my thoughts and feelings down when my youngest son gave up his nap time. I wanted to keep most of it private, so I added a vellum overlay and a title to help keep it concealed.

USING VELLUM TO CREATE POCKETS

Last up is vellum pockets. So easy to make and such a fun addition to a project life album. In the Project Life page above, I created a vellum pocket to hold my journaling and a few extra photos in the bottom left. I stitched a few tags onto the vellum to help draw your eye to the journaling.

This is another pocket I created for my Project Life album. It holds a few smaller photos and some ticket stubs from a trip to a local park. The globe patterned vellum was actually a journaling card from a Gossamer Blue kit but I trimmed it in half and stitched it to a piece of white card stock to create the pocket. I used part of my smaller circle punch to make a notch at the top of the pocket and finished it with a few embellishments and a stamped sentiment.

And that wraps up VELLUM week at write.click.scrapbook. Thank you so much for spending some time with me this week! I hope all of these projects have inspired you to use vellum in new and creative ways! Be sure to link up your projects to the gallery so we can all see them!! Let me know if you have any questions and thanks again for joining me!

October 24, 2013

Hi!! We're still going strong over here at VELLUM week! Thanks so much for stopping by each day!! I really appreciate it!

Ok! Today is all about vellum and mini albums. I make a lot of mini albums and mini books and I think each one of them has some sort of vellum element. Most of these ideas have been shared earlier this week, but I thought it would be fun to see vellum used in mini books.

USE VELLUM LAYERS TO SOFTEN BUSY PATTERNS

As I mentioned at the beginning of the week, vellum is a great way to soften a busy background paper. For the cover of this mini album, I wanted the main focus to be my title sticker. I added a trimmed piece of vellum over my paper layers to help the title pop from the cover.

For the inside of this book, I added a piece of trimmed vellum over my patterned paper and then stitched some words onto the page. The triangles in the background are still visible, but the vellum helps keep the words from blending into the background.

STAMPING DIRECTLY ONTO VELLUM

We saw earlier in the week how stamping onto vellum can create a fun effect. The same thing applies to mini books. For this book, I added a piece of vellum in my book prior to sewing my pages together. Then I stamped my sentiment onto the vellum. I love how it acts like a "peek-a-boo" in the book. It invites you to turn the page to see the next photo.

I used a piece of patterned vellum from Elle's Studio for the page in this mini book. I laid my vellum on top of my photo before stamping my sentiment to make sure my stamp was in the correct place.

PRINTING PHOTOS ONTO VELLUM

Printing photos directly onto vellum and then adding them to books can make for a super fun visual effect. Here, I printed my large photo onto vellum and hot glued it into my altered book. I sewed on a few little tags and a die cut to add some interest to the picture.

Here's a look at the back of the vellum photo. It's so fun to see the photo as you are flipping the page.

PRINTING PHOTOS ON VELLUM TIPS: I've found that photos that aren't too busy or don't have busy backgrounds print best on vellum. I usually lower the opacity of my photo in Photoshop to make sure the darker areas of my photo don't print too dark. The lighter the image, the better it will print on vellum. And just like for printing text onto vellum, be sure to allow your photo time to dry. I usually let mine sit for about an hour (and that seems like a really long hour!).

POCKETS, POCKETS AND MORE POCKETS

Sewing two pieces of vellum together to create a pocket is a great way to add hidden journaling or extra photos. For the album above, I just sewed one piece of vellum onto my white cardstock and then added my journaling card. Washi tape works great too if you don't have access to a sewing machine.

Same thing for this altered book. I created a pocket by folding one piece of vellum in half and then stitching down one side. I added a few embellishments on the outside of the vellum and included my journaling on the tag inside the vellum pocket.

Here, I included a vellum envelope full of pretty sequins to finish off this tag mini album. Be sure to save all of those little bags that some of your smaller products come in! They are perfect for adding sequins and little bits to mini books and other projects!!

I'll be back tomorrow to share my final day of VELLUM week. We are wrapping up with ideas for using vellum in your Project Life albums!!

October 23, 2013

Hello again and happy Wednesday! Welcome back to day three of VELLUM week. Yesterday was full of wonderful ideas for using vellum on your layouts and cards!

Today I am sharing my favorite way to use vellum on my projects....journaling! I love to type or write my journaling directly onto vellum and I will share with you some of my favorite projects using vellum. But first up is this amazing layout by Diane Payne!!

USING VELLUM WITH YOUR DIE CUTTING MACHINE

Diane used vellum in such a creative way on this layout! She cut out her title onto vellum using her Silhouette. I've never used a die cutting machine on vellum before, but you can certainly bet it's on my "to-do" list....right up there with painting onto vellum (thanks Amy!!). Diane's title is so subtle, but so striking. You know it's there, but it doesn't distract from her lovely photo at the top of her page or her sweet jouranling at the bottom.

CREATING A VELLUM OVERLAY

This is a layout I created for the color palate one month here at write.click.scrapbook. When I saw all of the blues I knew I wanted to make a page writing a letter to my sweet son. I decided to use a large photo and originally thought about writing my text down the left side of my photo. But then it dawned on me how beautiful my typed letter would look as an overlay. I simply typed my journaling on my computer and printed it out on the left side of my vellum. Then I sewed it into place at the top of my page and added a little tab in the right hand corner to help lift the vellum.

Here's a closer look at the vellum overlay. I love how the text is a large part of the page, but the main focus is still that sweet photo of my son.

PRINTING TEXT ONTO VELLUM: If you are printing from an ink jet printer, be sure to all your text time to dry before handling. It takes about 15-20 minutes for the ink to completely dry (believe me....I'm pretty impatient and have smeared a fair share of journaling!)

TYPING TEXT ONTO VELLUM AND ADDING TO ACCENT PIECES

Now, if you've followed me on my blog or through instagram, you've probably seen me use Crate Paper's The Pier slide frames for holding my journaling. They are the perfect way to "anchor" your journaling to your page. I roughly measure the inside of my frame, type my journaling onto vellum and then attach it to the frame. Wood veneer and other frames are also fun ways to incorporate text and journaling on projects!

Same thing, different frame. :) For this layout, I wanted the patterned papers to still show through so I placed my vellum frame on top of the papers next to my photo. I also added some stitching around my journaling to help it pop out of the frame.

And that, my friends, completes day three of VELLUM week. Tomorrow is all about mini albums! See you then!!

Today is all about using vellum as accents on your layouts and cards. There are so many amazing ways to use vellum on your projects. As I mentioned yesterday, the transparent nature of vellum adds a soft touch to a page. It also allows the viewer to get a look at what's beneath the vellum, rather than covering it up as paper would do!! Let's check out some fun ideas!

DRESSING UP A PAGE WITH VELLUM ACCENTS

Diane Payne used vellum in several different ways as an accent on her gorgeous layout. She used the gold polka dot vellum underneath her photo with her paper layers, and also added the "happy day" vellum banner across the top of the page. Both elements add so much fun and interest to her page.

Francine Clouden trimmed a piece of patterned vellum to link her photo on the left side of the page to the embellishments on the right. What an amazing design!!

Laura O'Donnell used a vellum sticker from the Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go collection to embellish her card. The transparent aspect of the vellum allows the recipient to still see all the fun elements of the card.

STAMPING AND EMBOSSING ONTO VELLUM

I love to use vellum and stamps! And it works great when you have a large photo or a large pattern since you can still see part of your picture/paper. For this layout above, I stamped a few sentiments on a piece of vellum and then trimmed them out to make a vertical garland down my page. I added a few tags and some typed journaling strips in and then stitched it into place.

Stamping on vellum tip: Be sure to let your stamped image dry for a few minutes before touching. I used Staz-on ink and it seemed to dry pretty quickly, but I have used other inks that smear easily with vellum if they aren't completely dry.

Embossing onto vellum also makes for a very fun effect. For the layout above, I embossed the feather roller doodle from the Glitz Design Finnley collection onto vellum using yellow embossing powder. After I set the powder with my heat gun, I trimmed out each feather and then layered them onto my page. I also used a small vellum envelope as an accent on my page to "hold" some of the embossed feathers.

Embossing on vellum tip: The heat of a heat gun can easily warp or burn your paper if left in the same place for too long. I always allow my heat gun to warm up completely before placing it above my embossed image (rather than letting it warm over the image). I also try not to stay in one place for too long to keep from burning my embossed image.

CREATING VELLUM POCKETS AS ACCENTS

Diane Payne sewed together two pieces of vellum to create a pocket for sequins and then added on her photo and embellishments. She also stamped directly onto her vellum, which looks just beautiful!

Here, I added a vellum pocket in the top left hand corner of my grid. I filled the pocket with a few sequins and then layered on my tags for some added interest.

And that wraps up day two of VELLUM week. Tomorrow I will be sharing fun ways to add text to your projects using vellum!! See you then!